William homae



(No Model.)

W. HUMAN.

REPLY POSTAL GARD. No. 339,890. Patented Apr. 1.3, 188.6.

N, versus, mmmmgnpher. wumngm n. c.

` terlocking devices.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLiAM HOMAN, 0E NEW YORK, N. Y.

REPLY POSTAL-CARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,890, dated April 13, 1886.

Application filed November 9, 1885. Serial No. $2,961. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HOMAN, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Reply Postal-Cards, of which the following is a specification.

There isa demand in correspondence by post for a means of providing a return postal-card attached to the principal one, both to be prepaid by the original sender. Many efforts have been made to supply this want. Among other schemes has been folding a suiciently large piece of paper or pasteboard and attaching the free edges temporarily together by in- All such previously known to me were open to objections.

I have discovered and reduced to practical form a construction in which one partis wider than the other, equippedwith a locking-tongue, and the stiffness of the card itself is made available to hold the free edges in the locked condition. It will serve when folded either way. It is eminently easy to operate.

One objection to all the previous devices is that they are difficult to operate. It is essential to the success of a reply postal-card that it shall be extremely simple. Another objection to the former devices is the mutilating of the return postal-card. My plan leaves this important part-the part which has to endure the passage through the mail in both directions-without slotting or other mutilation. It is a plain, uncut, and unweakened card.

My reply postalcard may be returned by simply detaching the previously locked free edges and folding in the opposite way, using the same locking means to engage the parts in the reverse position as was previously employed to hold them locked in their original position. Another mode of using the invention is to tear apart the two parts on the folding-line, letting the recipient retain the original part and use the other part alone for the return message. In such ease the latter may be in size and in all respects an exact fac-simile of an ordinary single postal-card. It is unmutilated and unmarked by its previous experience.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification, and represent what I consider the best means of carrying out the in vention.

Figure 1 is a face View of the postal-cardin its outward journey, and Fig. 2 is' a central cross-section of the same. Fig. 3 represents j 5 one face of the complete postal-card in its eX- tended condition either before or after it is used. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the opposite face. Fig. 5 shows the reply portion detachedfrom the other.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

A is the main body or principal postal-card, the part which serves to carry the address, and also, by preference, to carry the message onits outward journey. In such case the message is written on the reverse side of theprincipal part, which is theinside when the return part is folded upon it. This principal part has a curved slot, a, produced by any suitable cutting-instrument. The portion of the card embraced within this curve may be deflected by the thumb or finger to either side.

B is the other part-that which is to serve for the reply. A and B constitute two parts of asingle card. They are partially separated by a line of perforations or analogous means, e c. It is easy to fold on the line c either in one direction or the other. The part A is wider than the part B, and the curved slot a is so located that on deflecting the tongue a slightly it is easy to engage the edge of B under it, and the parts will remainlocked. The face bearing the postage-stamp and adapted to receive the address is on one side of the part A and on the opposite side of the part B.

Vhether my reply postal-card is folded one way to serve for the outgoing trip, or folded the other way to serve for the return trip, it is easy to lock the free edges together by the tongue a engaging the edge of the part B. The stiness of the material should be sufficient to hold the part B extended, so that its edge will remain locked under the tongue a after it has been properly engaged. The receiver can, if he prefers, tear across on theline c, and use only the return part B for the return message. The name of the sender may be written, or, in ease many are provided, can be loo printed in the proper position on the return part B before being mailed by the sender.

My postal-card should be, used one way or the other for the return message, according as the original sender has placed his message/for the outgoing journey on one part or the other. If he folds and locks the parts rst and writes his message on the back of the part B, the reeipient must send both parts back, folding the other way, and writing his message on the back l of the original card; but if, as may be generally preferable, the sender writes his message on the back of A and folds and looks B over it, then the recipient will write his answer on the back of the part B, and send both parts back, or only the part B, as he may eleet.

Modieations may be made in the forms and proportions. I can use two of the slots aand two of the tongues a.

Instead of the curved form of the slot a,I can use a rectangular Aform. I esteem it iniportant that the slot a be of such form as to produce a strong tongue, a. The part B will engage by its edge, in the manner shown, under tongues of widely varying forms and sizes. The form shown is preferable.

I design to use a similar card as an edverg tising medium, and adapted for distribution by mail or otherwise.' Such card I design to ,25k

make subject-matter for aseparate application.y Y

I claim as my invention- The reply postal-eard'described, unequally divided'by aifolding-line of perforations, c '0,

or analogous means, the part A being wider 3o j than B, and provided with a tongue, a', arranged to engage the'edge of the partB when folded, as herein spe'cied. y

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set *myy hand, at New York city, this 2d day of No- 35 Ave'mber,188' in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NVM. HOMN.

Vitnesses: i

i EDW. WM. FRANCIS, MANIERRE ELLIsoN. 

